Durant leads Warriors to 110-102 win vs Cavs

Kevin Durant scored a playoff career-high 43 points, including a long clinching 3-pointer, Stephen Curry ended a nightmarish night with five straight to give Golden State the lead for good, and the Warriors took a 3-0 lead in the NBA Finals with a 110-102 victory over Cleveland.

“The shot clock was running down, I was pretty far out, I just wanted to get a look,” Durant said of his long 3-pointer. “I didn’t want to run there and shoot a bad shot, fall on the ground and they got numbers going the other way so I decided to pull up.”

Curry shot just 3 for 16 but he made a layup with the Warriors down one and followed with his only 3-pointer of the game for a four-point lead with a little more than 2 ½ minutes remaining.

The Warriors have a 3-0 lead for the second straight year. They finished the Cavaliers off in five games in 2017.

LeBron James had 33 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, but his Cavaliers will have to become the first team to climb out of a 3-0 hole in the NBA Finals.

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11:15 p.m.

LeBron James is carrying the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals, as usual. Rodney Hood is helping, which is unexpected.

Hood continues to provide James with solid support as Golden State leads Game 3 94-93 midway through the fourth quarter.

Out of the rotation of late, Hood has three baskets in the final period and 15 points off the bench. James leads the Cavaliers with 26 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds.

Kevin Durant has 38 points for the Warriors, who are trying to win with next to nothing from Stephen Curry. He has four points on 1-for-14 shooting

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11 p.m.

Kevin Durant has Golden State a quarter away from a 3-0 lead in the NBA Finals.

The Warriors have an 83-81 edge heading into the final period, surging ahead with one of their patented third-quarter runs even while Stephen Curry continues to struggle.

But Durant has been brilliant, with 34 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. That has more than compensated for Curry’s 1-for-11 outing, including 0 for 7 from 3-point range.

LeBron James has 21 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds for the Cavaliers, who were outscored 31-23 in the third.

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10:35 p.m.

Good news for the Cavaliers: They finally got a free throw attempt, after LeBron James’ basket early in the second half.

Bad news for the Cavaliers: Golden State has all the other points in the third quarter.

The Warriors opened the third quarter with an 11-3 spurt to take a 63- 61 lead.

James was fouled while scoring after Cleveland didn’t attempt a free throw in the first half, when it led by as many as 13 points.

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10:15 p.m.

Cleveland has a 58-52 halftime lead in Game 3 of the NBA Finals that would be much bigger if not for Kevin Durant.

Durant scored 24 points, the only Warriors player in double figures in a foul-plagued, poor-shooting first half for Stephen Curry.

LeBron James has 14 points, nine assists and six rebounds, and he’s getting more help than his counterpart Durant. Kevin Love had 15 points and 10 rebounds, J.R. Smith scored 10 points, and Rodney Hood made a nice contribution with six.

Cleveland led by as much as 13 in a half where Curry committed three fouls and was 1 for 8 from the field.

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10 p.m.

LeBron James is on. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson are way off.

James is up to 14 points, six assists and five rebounds midway through the second quarter, leading Cleveland to a 44-34 advantage. The Cavaliers also are getting a strong performance from J.R. Smith, with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting.

Curry is just 1 for 8, missing all five 3-pointers, a game after making an NBA Finals-record nine 3s. Thompson, his backcourt mate, is 1 for 6.